The Greenlight Zone - Publishers

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I wrote a novel called, "HER LITTLE GIRL." I wrote a screenplay that I submitted to the Project Greenlight contest called, "HER LITTLE GIRL." Coincidence? Doh.

What's more than coincidence, and is simply sensational, is that I am not the only "hyphenated" (screenwriter-novelist) writer in the Project Greenlight contest. There's lots of us out there. So this page is for you, my multi-faceted compadres.

AAR
Association of Author's Representatives

Okay, so this is an organization that upholds high ethical standards for literary agents that represent authors of novels and other narrative writing. They are not publishers. But this is probably the first stop you want to make along the way to marketing your novel. They list their member agents. These are the guys you probably want to start with in sending out that query letter. If they are members of AAR, most likely, they're not out to rip you off.

First Contact

Whether that first contact is with a literary agent or directly with a publisher, you will be writing that all-important Query Letter. For more on query letters, please see the proper section in "Agents" here on this website. As well, many first-time authors make their first contact directly with a publisher instead of an agent. The publishing world differs slightly from the movie business on this point. Once you have made your first sale to a publisher on your own, a literary agent will be more inclined to give you the time of day.

Which publisher?

This is the part of the story where you need to refer to a hefty tome such as, "Writer's Market 2001." Herein, you will find thousands of potential contacts in the publishing industry. There are other volumes out there, each offering up its listings of contacts along with other helpful information such as how-to's for writing query letters and commentary from published writers, editors, and others. If you are a writer pushing your first novel, you really do need to grab yourself a copy of Writer's Market 2001. And do not rely on the information after a year has gone past -- editors and others change positions and employers at a frequent rate. If you send your query and/or sample chapters to the wrong name even at the right address, it goes nowhere after that.

Do read what each individual editor/publisher's preferred method of submission is and do precisely that and nothing else. Following directions is a very big deal to these guys.

If you are serious about that first novel, here are some direct links to those all-important directories: